Colors are very curious — they can make you feel something and change your mood. As a web designer, it’s important to pick the right colors for your clients’ websites. You wouldn’t want a yellow website for a funeral home, or a black website for children. As a web developer, it’s important to know what color schemes to use to help set the mood of the website.
Color Theory
When it comes to picking colors, it’s important to understand three words: contrast, complementation and vibrancy. There are different shades to every color, so knowing what colors are going to contrast the colors you’ll be using will be important to you.
Complementation is similar, but these are colors that will accent each other such as blue and yellow.
Vibrancy is where mood setting comes in; picking a warm color will tend to energize the user, while a cooler color will be more relaxing. Knowing these basics will help you understand how the colors are going to work for you.
Design Principals
One easy design principal to remember in web design when picking colors, is to put a lighter color on your background, so that your text is easy to read. When designing around text, don’t get super creative — you want to keep the area simple.
If a web developer is looking to get a reader’s attention, make sure that you have colors that are contrasting, like using a gray background and lighter foreground. People’s eyes will usually look at the brightest color first — usually white, and that color will grab their attention. Using a variety of contrasting colors will help keep focus on certain page elements.
Color Scheme
Web designers can find a variety of color schemes, and picking that scheme can be a tough decision. Colors can bring out different feelings in people, like cool colors versus warm colors. As a web developer, there are different tools you can use to find schemes such as Adobe and Photoshop. These tools can help you find what color scheme and mood you’re trying to set.
